Magic Power and Bloodline

The lush green grass grows wildly, and the wind sweeping across the open fields already carries the scent of autumn.

The young wizards were scattered across the grass, gathered in twos and threes, some squatting, some sitting, staring listlessly at the wriggling little monsters. This was part of their lesson: taking the Blast-Ended Skrewts for a walk and checking the grass for anything the snails would eat.

Bang!

A faint bluish-white plume of gunpowder smoke dissipated, and a pungent, fishy stench spread. Several young wizards who were nearby hurriedly got up and took several steps back, only gathering together again after the smell had almost dissipated.

Loren squatted on the ground, the Bubble-Head Charm around his neck, and poked the soft little thing in front of him with great interest using a small wooden stick.

The Blast-Ended Skrewts slowly wriggled, its body protruding and contracting segment by segment, moving its body in this way.

Loren poked the middle of the Blast-Ended Skrewts's body, and it immediately caved in, as if it were a fluid wrapped in a worm skin, with no muscles or bones inside.

The Blast-Ended Skrewts has no bones and crawls by wriggling, so it should probably be classified as a mollusc. However, it seems to have signs of a hardened shell on its back, so it may be classified as an arthropod in the future.

Loren glanced back and saw Professor Granger in the distance still earnestly advising Hagrid. Hagrid, who was about three meters tall, was humble, while Hermione, with her slender figure, exuded the professor's authority.

"..."

Poor Hagrid.

He lowered his head again, continuing to observe this entirely new creature.

Until the school bell rang, the young wizards returned the Blast-Ended Skrewts to Hagrid, most of them already half-dead.

They underwent some experiments with rather extreme conditions, such as seeing how many times the Blast-Ended Skrewts can spray, whether the Blast-Ended Skrewts eats rocks, and how fast the Blast-Ended Skrewts can tolerate rotation speed.

What malicious intent could the young wizards possibly have? They simply wanted to carefully observe the objects of their project.

Hermione looked at the densely packed swarms of Blast-Ended Skrewts in the wooden crate and felt a chill run down her spine. She advised, "Hagrid, this can't go on. Look at their size. In a few months, a single one of them will grow bigger than the crate itself and could blow up your Wooden House with ease."

Hagrid picked up the box and walked towards the Wooden House, a kind smile on his face, "No, when they're a little more sensible, I'll teach them properly... Aragog was like that when they were little too, spitting spider webs everywhere, but you all saw how they became very well-behaved."

Hermione looked extremely distressed, while Harry and Ron remained silent and perfectly calm.

They were quite open-minded; since Dumbledore approved it, what reason did they have to object?

Loren followed beside him, the Bubble-Head Charm on his head gone. "Hagrid, how come Sphinx can hybridize with Fire Crabs and still produce offspring?"

"Oh, Loren, actually I didn't expect this at first either." Hagrid patted the box. "Their parents didn't seem like they could get along well, but who could have imagined... I guess their mother felt she should find herself a companion, and then she set her sights on the Fire Crabs I had placed next to her. Love is just that irrational, but since it was mutual, I'm happy to let them be."

"Consensual?" Hermione couldn't help but retort. "You mean consensual means that almost all the mating Fire Crabs were eaten? Is that love?"

"Hmm..." Hagrid stammered, "That happens in the forest too, Mrs. Mantis always eats Mr. Mantis, all for the sake of procreation and the continuation of life."

"You're beyond saving, Hagrid." Hermione felt utterly exhausted.

As they followed Hagrid into the Wooden House, they watched Hagrid light the fire and felt the temperature and light gradually rise. The Blast-Ended Skrewts in the box became excited and began to wriggle and rustle.

"Actually, I'm more concerned about the issue of crossbreeding between different Fantastic Beasts..."

Loren pulled up a stool and sat down, continuing the previous topic, "Completely different kinds of Fantastic Beasts can produce offspring and can stably inherit the Magic Power of their parents... This is completely different from us humans. Not to mention the union of wizards and Muggle, even wizards can produce Muggle-born."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "My mother is a wizard, but Aunt Petunia is not... Colin's parents are Muggle, but Colin and Dennis are wizards."

Remembering Harry's two fans, Loren paused before continuing, "Have you noticed? Fantastic Beasts don't have to worry about Magic Power inheritance at all."

"It sounds like a relationship between genetics and mutation..."

Hermione's parents were both Muggle, so they were familiar with this kind of thing. By extension, Hermione quickly connected it to other phenomena. "Parents without Magic Power can give birth to children with Magic Power, but ordinary animals without Magic Power can never give birth to Fantastic Beasts..."

"The offspring of Fantastic Beasts generally inherit Magic Power. This is not only due to bloodline and gestation, but also because the incubation method of oviparous animals can have an impact, causing the Magic Power of the offspring to mutate."

Ron didn't understand what they were talking about—parents and offspring, genetic mutations—and his face scrunched up in confusion. "It sounds like Fantastic Beasts are more compatible with Magic Power."

Hagrid reached behind his back and scratched, feeling that even as a professor of the Care of Magical Creatures, he didn't quite understand their conversation. "Fantastic Beasts don't necessarily inherit all of their parents' Magic Power. If Fantastic Beasts mates with an ordinary animal, the Magic Power of the offspring will be weakened. Magic Power is diluted like blood, and after several generations, there won't be much Magic Power left..."

"Crookshanks and Fang are the same. They have the blood of Fantastic Beasts, but they are only smarter than ordinary animals and can no longer use magic."

"It sounds like it involves a lot of people..." Harry vaguely sensed the importance of this topic.

"That would only be useful if we figured out the principle behind the connection between Magic Power and bloodline." Loren waved his hand. "In short, it's a very troublesome matter, and we might not understand it even when we're too old to move."

"I see..."

Harry and Ron instantly felt that this matter had little to do with them, at least not until they were too old to move.

Hagrid's head was spinning, but not wanting the students to think he hadn't understood, he remained silent for a moment before saying, "It's lunchtime. Do you want to eat here? I've prepared Rock Cake."

"No, no..."

The young wizards quickly said they had classes in the afternoon and wouldn't waste any more time there. Hermione gave Hagrid a long list of fire safety instructions, and then the group hurriedly left.